Evander Kane: "I asked for a trade every offseason in Winnipeg"

[#-3]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Wrong country to play the race card in. It might have worked in Atlanta but that #### don't fly in Winnipeg.


The Irony is he made that comment about a team in Canada yet got shipped to a team in the States where he is likely to be treated different. Not saying the Sabers in particular but in a country as a whole. He must not know his history very well. Wonder if he has ever heard of Harriet Tubman or the underground railroad. I forget where was the final destination and which country was that in?

It's probably his view of race but has more to do with cultural issues than anything.

I find it really easy to believe he felt ignored or left out by team mates, because he just didn't fit in. Regardless of how you fell about the way people act, hockey players just aren't rappers or NBA players. The personality difference probably left him more isolated than other top players and he conflated it with racism. Unlike a guy like PK who seems self confident enough to understand that most of the players just don't want to express themselves in the same way that he does, and it means he will not always be in the same circle of people as some of them.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I really dislike Evander.

I see a young punk. I don't see a young black punk. I just see a young punk.

I used to love Big Buff too, and now I don't. It isn't because I suddenly discovered he was black. I just see him running guys a bit too often at times.

Nobody that I can think of has experienced more adversity in the NHL recently than Simmonds. Who doesn't love that guy and respect the player that he is right now?

I get that perhaps it has come up a few times in the NHL. It more than likely came up a LOT on his way to the NHL - and that is something that I hope doesn't happen for other young visible-minorities - but the same thing has happened with Iginla, Fuhr, Subban, etc., and they are all pretty much universally loved (or were at one time or another).

I used to HATE Subban because I thought he was a young punk. I never saw him as a young black punk. I hated him because he was a punk who I thought looked at himself as bigger than the game and had no respect out there. After getting to know him (in that manner of speaking anyways) through his various interviews and media availabilities, I look at him as a really great human being. I don't look at him as a really great black human being. Just a human being.

That is just me though. But I hate Evander Kane because Evander seems so full of himself, and if he doesn't get the accolades he thinks he deserves (for being mediocre) than he pulls out a race card? Makes me dislike him more.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I used to love Big Buff too, and now I don't. It isn't because I suddenly discovered he was black. I just see him running guys a bit too often at times.

Same but running guys is one thing it's more about the downright dangerous and scary things he does on a regular basis, like crosschecking a guy in the back of the neck and punching a guy in the back of the head after he scores. He's basically a Bertuzzi/McSorley in my book whose actions just haven't resulted in a major injury... yet.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by fleury

I'm actually a bit surprised on here that people so vehemently deny that there's a race issue. It's pretty prevalent in most pro sports. It's something that nobody likes to talk about but to turn a blind eye or deny it exists is wrong. I don't like Evander, because he comes across as an ass, but IMO, it's likely exaggerated because of his skin colour as people relate his persona to a rapper. Guys like Ovechkin or Bissonette were pretty similar but didn't get as much slack despite having that non-conformist personality despite being hockey players. Iginla was pretty clean cut so to put him in that box wouldn't add up. As a black man in the hockey world he gets more hate because he plays the heel. Don't get me wrong, even if he was white he'd still be disliked, but I don't think it would be nearly as much.

Sean Avery - who was not black in case you didn't notice - had a far worse reputation than Kane.

And I don't think anybody is relating his persona to that of a rapper, so perhaps you need to look at your own stereotyping and what it says about you. A lot of people view Kane as something of a goof, and very much a "me first" player.

Has Kane faced down some racism in his professional career? Almost certainly. Is racism the root of why he is such a disliked figure? Nope. Not in the slightest.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

But haven't both Subban and Ovechkin really overcome their public persona to become dramatically more likeable? In the last couple of years these two have embraced the media and worked it to their advantage; something that Kane has never even tried to do.

Regarding Subban, if by overcome you mean that people now understand who he is, then yes - he is way more universally liked. PK hasn't changed and become more likeable, I don't think.

[Poe969]

I wasn't ever a huge hater or lover for Kane but I kinda see where he's coming from. I think it has a lot to do with the fan base and not so much his race. He's playing the race card because maybe he feels differently about something that's happened to him in the peg. Maybe he was treated differently there than other players. I know Buff is there and he hasn't played that card but they're at completely different areas of life. Kane is a young punk and there's no denying it but maybe his actions were blown out of proportion because of his race...who knows. All I know is that he didn't like playing in winnipeg and I think the fan base had a lot to do with it.

IMO Kane is a punk but the Winterpeg doesn't seem like the kind of place that fully accepted him, not because of his race but because he just didn't fit in there. I don't think it's too surprising that he never really wanted to be there.

And as for signing an extension, I know it's been said that he was an RFA and that it was signed right before the lock out and that he could have held out but realistically, he had no control in the situation and had do do what the team made him do. Probably another reason why he wanted out of there.

I'll still always love the punch on Cooke.

[Northendzone]

in toronto or vancouver making a phone call by using $50k would have likely played a lot better than it does in winnipeg - kane needed to learn who the fan base is as well

[Hackey]

I have to be in the boat that thinks race does play a role in the flack he gets. Not to say its the sole reason but I think it happens unconciously or not. The money thing I definitely think got blown out of proportion because of his race. If it was Tyler Seguin I don't think it would have been as big of a deal.

Not saying people here are doing this but there are people out there who use things to cover up their racism. Bill O'Reilly is a perfect example. He takes isolated incidents where black people are involved and uses it as a way to make black people look bad. "I don't dislike black people I only dislike the ones doing stuff like this."

When it comes to the actual team I think he just didn't fit in. There was a bit of a rift with him and teammates and he didn't know how to go about things. I'm sure it was a clash of personalities and it reached a point where him and others were butting heads and it was an environment he and they were unhappy in. He was probably more of the outsider so didn't deal with it as easy. I think it was best that both parties parted ways.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

in toronto or vancouver making a phone call by using $50k would have likely played a lot better than it does in winnipeg - kane needed to learn who the fan base is as well

I don't think that works wherever he tries it

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Regarding Subban, if by overcome you mean that people now understand who he is, then yes - he is way more universally liked. PK hasn't changed and become more likeable, I don't think.

Yeah, this is more what I meant.

[East Coast Flame]

Ah yes, the white guys on the internet tell the young black man how they are supposed to feel about race thread. Always a classic.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Yeah, this is more what I meant.

Which to me simply shows that there may be an initial bias against a 'flamboyant' hockey player, black or otherwise ( as in Ovechkin's case - though I'm less familiar with him), but that the bias disappears if the true character of the individual emerges as a quality person.
Kane is simply not a particularly likeable individual.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by East Coast Flame

Ah yes, the white guys on the internet tell the young black man how they are supposed to feel about race thread. Always a classic.

I'm no PC Principal, but if you ever visit the off topic forum you'd learn that the CP fanbase is quite diverse. Furthermore, since I am white I can't comment on a black player in the NHL? Give me a break. Iggy is my all time favorite player. I hated Crosby for his first 3 or 4 years in the NHL. I love Ovechkin. Am I not entitled to these opinions? Get off your horse bro.

There are POS's around the league. Kane just happens to be one of them. Race has nothing to do with it.

If he posts dumb stuff on instagram and the scum of the internet attack him or are flat our racist, that doesn't mean the NHL or people in the NHL are.

[Cole436]

"but they don’t look like me. They don’t look like me.”

Again Evander, people don't dislike you because you're black, people dislike you because you're an ass-hole.

[adc]

Originally Posted by East Coast Flame

Ah yes, the white guys on the internet tell the young black man how they are supposed to feel about race thread. Always a classic.

In that case why are you not posting 'the internet schlubs who never made it past Pee Wee telling the NHL players how to play hockey thread. Always a classic"?

It is possible for people to recognize if something is racist or not if they are white.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Would suck to request a trade from Winnipeg only to be sent to Buffalo.

America's Winnipeg!

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Locke

America's Winnipeg!

Winnipeg wishes.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by adc

It is possible for people to recognize if something is racist or not if they are white.

Of course it is but I do think a lot of people are oblivious to it. If you don't experience something you don't really know what its like. Facing prejudice, discrimination, racism, etc can be very subtle. Most people are not outright racist for the world to see. A person on the outside looking in is not gonna feel and experience what the person having that hate directed at them will. A lot of people just don't want admit its an issue or get all bent out of a shape if its even brought up. I've worked with plenty of people were very racists over the years.

My mom was recently in the hospital for a couple weeks where she shared a room with 4 other people and she told me certain nurses treated a native woman that was sharing the room with her differently than everyone else. It bothered her to the point that she complained. Obviously she took notice but did anyone else in the room or any of the other people working there or visiting notice? It's kind of difficult to judge whether racism was an issue with Kane when you wern't even there. And even if you were there would you recognize it? I'm not speaking about you specifically just in general. It can sometimes be difficult to catch certain things that are not familiar to you.

[Northendzone]

all of this rhetoric really does not matter as evander is having trouble hearing us over the rumblings from the engines of his various helicopters, sports cars and trains and possibly ships that are all waiting to whisk him away in style and comfort

[Coach]

^^^ But it's kind of beside the point, Hackey. I think we would all agree that Kane has likely experienced racism throughout his life. However, by framing it the way he does, it implies that you are racist if you don't like him. He's giving himself that excuse for acting like complete knob. "Evander, you're being an a**hole" "You just hate me cuz I'm black!" "Ummmm..."

Who is really perpetuating the issue of race here? Again, I'm sure he's experienced pretty much anywhere he's gone, but it's not an excuse to act like a dbag and apply the race card to everyone who dislikes you. When you act like a dbag, people hate you for that, not because of the color of your skin.